The art practice of Małgorzata Lisowska is a story about the love of life, the world, oneself and art. It is also a story about cancer. Her photography is a deeply introspective look into the self, an attempt at seeing our world at its actual as well as micro-scale through human cells. Finally, it is the question of who we are.

Dobromiła Błaszczyk: A year ago, you called me to tell me about the cancer and the treatment that was ahead of you. In the same conversation, you mentioned the plan to photograph your own cancer cells. The subject of a disease, an observation of your body through art, and the gesture itself to draw a connection between these two aspects are all closely bound in your case. Why did you make this decision?

Małgorzata Lisowska: I felt the need to photograph cancer cells long before my diagnosis. At that point, I didn’t realised I would photograph my own cancer. In early 2020, my career veered towards healthcare. I went to the Netherlands to learn about the concept of Value-Based Healthcare, which is about measuring medical outcomes. The organisation Value Based Health Care Center Europe offered me to be their ambassador in Poland. Ever since then, the vast majority of my professional projects have been related to healthcare. As a person with a strong aesthetic sensibility, I paid attention to the visual aspect and communication that have surrounded me since the very beginning. I was surprised that people in this field rarely take into consideration how the environment we create in — for instance medical facilities — or the way we communicate various information about diseases influence the patients. The lack of awareness that this might affect the results of treatment, prophylactics and one’s experience of an illness is unfortunately quite common.

DB: Microscope photography is a very narrow and specific area of artistic activity. You delve into this world that we cannot see, and yet it is constantly all around us. Why did you choose this type of language to formulate your vision? What does microscope photography mean to you?

ML: I discovered microscope photography while I was working on a project alongside diagnosticians. I realised that it allowed me to contribute to the visual shift in healthcare, which was something I wanted to do from the beginning, but I didn’t really know how. I started learning microscope photography and I fell in love with the cosmos that it shows us, somewhere along the way.

For me, microscope photography is an art form. My goal is to move it from a lab to a gallery space. Though rather niche in and of itself, I hope that my work could be accessible to a wide range of audiences. My intention is to use microscope photography to address various subjects — not just diseases, as evident from the early series — and to depict the world that not everyone can see with their own eyes. In my opinion, microscope photography opens up a possibility for palpably presenting different taboo issues, the kind of issues we would have turned our backs on (or overlooked) otherwise.

Furthermore, I started using microscope photography as a tool for working with cancer patients and their loved ones who support them on this journey. Behind every picture of human tissue is a different story. These are thousands of words in a single frame. Especially while working on my latest series related to cancer cells, I feel the need to share my experience and what helped me get through the breast cancer with other people. I believe that the conclusions I arrived at and tested on myself in the course of treatment might help other patients, and so I want to pass that on.

DB: Your work is extremely revealing. It is more than nude photography. You laid yourself bare completely, down to the minuscule cells of your body. Was this your original intention or perhaps a necessary side effect of tackling the subject of cancer?

ML: It was my original intention. I just didn’t realise that I would be showing my cancer cells.

As I was working on one of the oncology projects, I decided that I wanted to focus on this specialty — not only from the perspective of measuring medical outcomes but also filling the gap existing at the visual level. It seems odd to me that everyone knows what COVID-19 looks like but not cancer. Microscope pictures of cancer cells were the missing element in the narrative in oncology. I started exploring opportunities for photographing the cancer cells of patients.

In the meantime, I enrolled in the postgraduate course in psycho-oncology because I wanted to gain knowledge and a better understanding of the perspective of cancer patients to know how to support them. After one semester, I was diagnosed myself.

DB: What was your initial reaction when you saw the pictures of cancer cells for the very first time after you started taking them?

ML: Ever since I was diagnosed, I found it obvious that I had to confront my cancer, but I had not the faintest idea what I would see and how it would affect me. I remember my reaction when I first saw my cancer cells under the microscope. I burst into tears, I was moved by what I saw — “No, it’s impossible that something so beautiful would want to kill me!” Those were fantastical, abstract images created by my own cells through carcinogenesis. The process of oncogenesis manifesting itself as the tumour, filled me with awe from the start. I saw these “dancing and lost” cells. I couldn’t take my eyes off them. The need to share this with the world was there from the outset. I wanted to show others that there was nothing to be scared of, that my cancer was a part of me, not some kind of “alien.” And so, I put aside my fear and focused on medical treatment. I made a decision that I would undergo treatment with the most tenderness and love I could offer myself. Cells and tissue in the shape of a heart completed my narrative.

DB: While conducting such a deep introspection, did you focus more on the aesthetic or meaning behind the gesture of exposing the taboo subject, which some might even find embarrassing?

ML: From the very beginning I cared about dealing with the taboo subject. Since the diagnosis, I experienced some sort of social exclusion whenever I talked about my cancer and upcoming treatment in my close circle of friends. Many people turned their backs on me. A lot has changed in a very short time. The first two months (out of five) of chemotherapy took a particularly heavy toll on me. In the face of social exclusion, I felt useless since a lot of people had already written me off. I couldn’t come to terms with it. After all, I was exactly the same person I was before the diagnosis, and yet everything changed in the blink of an eye. I started my chemotherapy in March 2023. In April, I decided to submit pictures of my cancer cells for the microscope photography competition Nikon Small World. Submitting those pictures was the manifestation of life to me. I wished to be seen and accepted along with the breast cancer that I was experiencing. Although most people were abandoning me, I wished to manifest that I was alive and that I wanted to live. I am glad the whole world heard me. I placed third. After 31 years, Poland is back on the podium of the competition. For me, it was a shakeup of reality. 

DB: In my mind, your artistic journey marks the process of becoming, and what I mean by that is becoming who you are as Małgorzata. Looking at the bigger picture, it seems like a reflection on the human condition; on something that makes us who we are. Also, these unwanted, foreign, and undesirable things — such as the cancer cells that as you mentioned before are often viewed by patients as something they need to fight with — are parts of us… these are our own cells. What is your take on this?

ML: We have known each other for years, and you are aware that I have always been close to art, looking for my place in it. It turns out the place found me, which you also witnessed. For years, I have asked myself this question — how is it possible that we explore the cosmos and yet know so little about ourselves? We look amazed at the NASA pictures, but hardly ever are we amazed by another human being. I would like to shift the audience’s perspective; to show them that the cosmos is at their fingertips, as well as it is inside me. I would like to spark amazement at simple things such as human cells, vitamin C, or a plant. I am inspired by the NASA pictures and seek out cosmic frames under the microscope.

Right now, I show cancer from a different, authentic angle. It turns out that cancer cells have no claws, they are not monsters. Even they can be beautiful. What should I do with this piece of information? which is a part of me? How should I fight against myself? I couldn’t.

I generally believed that I didn’t have to fight, or even that I didn’t want to fight. From my perspective, the fight is stigmatising. It separates us into winners and losers. In my opinion, the war narrative undermines and inhibits recovery. In the course of such a long treatment like mine, it is important to find a source of strength and motivation. Maintaining the war narrative over a couple of months of chemo is difficult. I was extremely weak in the first weeks of chemo, barely able to walk. Yet I knew that only care and tenderness for myself would give me strength. That was my narrative during the entire treatment. Now that it is finished, when I had the surgery and had a one hundred percent response to chemotherapy, I feel mentally stronger than before. Unfortunately, oncology is dominated by the war narrative. No one has proposed any official alternative. I started working on it during treatment and I believe that soon I will be able to share a new approach.

DB: I am wondering, how did you manage to retrieve your cancer cells to work with them.     

ML: Every patient owns their results of medical examinations, including biopsy slides. Everyone has the right to take them from the place where they were diagnosed. All you need to do is go to the facility where you were diagnosed, submit a written request, and collect the slides. Biopsy slides are stored for several years. Few people know about this. Few people take advantage of it.

DB: Who is the target audience of your latest series of photographs?

ML: With microscope photos of my cancer cells, I would like to diminish the level of fear in oncology. I wish to familiarise people with a disease that is essentially democratic — it can happen to everyone. There is also an intention that healthy people would not fear cancer patients and would not turn away from us. It is difficult to go through cancer alone. My current activities related to oncology also derive from the need to tame my fear. Cancer is now considered as a chronic disease. I would like to learn to live with the the fear of recurrence and not let this fear take over my life. But it needs time.

DB: And what does art mean to you? What is it?

ML: For me, art is the manifestation of life. It has always been the most valuable form of support during difficult phases of my life. The act of creation implies movement, and movement is agency. If there is movement, there is also life. Life is movement.

Tickets are on sale NOW for The Photography & Video Show 2024, the imaging mega-event taking place in Birmingham, England, from March 16-19 at the NEC.

And we’re pleased to be able to offer Digital Camera World readers a 20% discount on their tickets, using our exclusive code! 

You can find everything you need to know about over on the official website, but in short you can expect over 200 of the biggest and best brands in photography, videography and post-production. 

The likes of Canon, Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm, OM System, Panasonic and Insta360 will show off their newest cameras, while Sigma, Sirui, Tamron and Irix will bring their latest lenses. Rotolight, Pixapro, Godox and co will literally shed a light on their cutting edge lighting products, and analog photography will be represented by companies like Ilford, Alfie Cameras and Solarcam! Here’s the current list of exhibitors.

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Not to mention my personal favorite part of the show: the incredible Aladdin’s cave of camera kit run by the Disabled Photographers’ Society, which is an amazing place to donate old kit and pick up some classic cameras and hidden treasure! 

And you’ll also have the chance to listen to some of the biggest and best names in photography, from Getty Images professionals to BBC video experts, celebrity photographers to successful YouTubers, and brand ambassadors and world-class trainers and educators. Check out the current speaker lineup here. 

To save 20% on your tickets, visit the link below and use the code DCWTPS24 – and if you spot the DCW team on the show floor, please do come and say hello!

You can expect to see the best mirrorless cameras from all the big brands, including everything from the best professional cameras to the best cameras for beginners.

A prestigious portrait competition has defended allowing entrants to submit artwork generated by artificial intelligence, arguing art is not stagnant and should reflect societal change.

The Brisbane Portrait Prize – with a top prize worth $50,0000 – has been described as Queensland’s answer to the Archibalds with selected entries displayed at the Brisbane Powerhouse later in the year.

In the terms and conditions of entry, the Brisbane Portrait Prize notes this year that it will accept entries “completed in whole or in part by generative artificial intelligence” so long as the artwork is original and “entirely completed and owned outright” by the entrant.

A spokesperson for the prize told Guardian Australia that allowing AI entries acknowledged the definition of art was not stagnant and would always grow.

“BPP prides itself on being a contemporary prize and we are always interested in what ‘contemporary’ portraiture is while fostering both the ongoing evolution of art and engaging in the surrounding conversation,” they said.

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The spokesperson said in the past more traditional artists had objected to digital and photographic entries being allowed – which are now generally accepted in the art world.

“As technology continues to adapt and integrate into our society, it has already opened the door for artists with a disability to be included thanks to the use of assistive technology, and we see the use of AI tools and methodologies as the next stage in this,” the spokesperson said.

A previous winner, the painter Stephen Tiernan, told the ABC there were still artistic processes involved in the creation of AI-generated work, and ultimately the rule change kept the prize contemporary.

The spokesperson said the competition would determine ownership of the work based on the processes used and the terms of the AI program behind it. When entering, artists must declare they have full copyright over the entry.

Dr Rita Matulionyte, a senior lecturer in law at Macquarie University, said AI itself could not be an author under Australian copyright law, but it remained an open question how much input a person must have in an AI-assisted artwork to claim ownership.

“The thing that is unclear [is] how much human contribution is enough for a human to become an author,” she said. “Is one prompt enough or is it 100 prompts that you have to make?”

The Brisbane Portrait Prize spokesperson said if the artist had contributed “sufficient independent intellectual effort” in creating the work it would likely be protected by copyright.

“An example of someone determining whole ownership of the content might be seen in an artist using an AI tool to produce an entirely brand-new artwork using elements of several of their own original artworks, with all original designs belonging solely to the artist,” the spokesperson said.

“We recognise that AI is an evolving space and that our laws are often playing catch up to technological advancements.”

Dr TJ Thomson, a senior lecturer at RMIT’s school of media and communication, said that “creating an image through a camera and imagining one through keyword prompting is a completely different experience that draws on largely different skills”.

“Some knowledge of photography principles and equipment can inform one’s prompting, but having camera-produced and AI-generated imagery compete wouldn’t be fair.”

It is not the first competition to have grappled with AI entries since the explosion of widely-available generative AI applications over the past year.

The National Portrait Gallery’s National Photographic Portrait Prize for 2024 allows the use of generative AI tools in the development of photographic work entered – but will not allow wholly AI-generated images.

But there are strict conditions, including requiring details on what tools were used and how. If the prompt to the AI includes names, images, work or creative styles of others, express consent must be obtained.

Thomson said it was a messy space with many unanswered questions, but that in the meantime other competitions were likely to follow suit.

The World Press Photography competition in November announced it would exclude AI-generated entries from its open format following “honest and thoughtful feedback”, stating the ban was “in line with our long-standing values of accuracy and trustworthiness”.

German artist Boris Eldagsen declined the prize for the creative open category at the Sony World Photography Awards last year after stating he entered an AI-generated photo of two women “as a cheeky monkey” to find out if competitions would be prepared for AI images.

“They are not,” he said in April last year.

In Sydney last year, a woman’s photo of her son missed out on winning a competition because the judges were suspicions it was AI-generated, despite her stating she took the photo on her phone.

The NGV’s Triennial exhibition this year in Melbourne featured works by Irish artist Kevin Abosch of “deepfakes of scenes depicting civil unrest across the world” – including in Melbourne – which examined how manipulated information could fuel civil unrest.

On Thursday, the Vermont Supreme Court Gallery in Montpelier opened its doors back to the public for the first time since July’s historic flooding.Their welcome back event was a photography exhibit with special ties to Vermont’s longest-serving senator.Nearly 100 people observed one-of-a-kind photographs, with many that highlighted key historical moments over the last five decades.The unique aspect was they got to witness those events through former U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy’s eyes, because he was the one that took all the photos. “To see his perspective on historical events from his very own camera really seemed like a special opportunity,” said Quinn Austin, a UVM senior who attended the exhibit.Leahy said he’s been a lifelong photographer ever since his mother gave him his first camera when he was 4.Since then, he hasn’t stopped capturing both timely and timeless moments.“When I got to the Senate, it’s like someone opened the golden doors,” Leahy said. Leahy has taken thousands of photos during his 48 years in the Senate.He said his favorite is a black and white photo he took of a refugee man in El Salvador in 1982.Leahy said the look on his face still resonates with him. “He was basically saying, ‘I could never do anything for you. I can barely do anything for myself. What do you do for people like me?’ I always had that hanging over my desk. I called it my conscious picture,” Leahy said.Gov. Phil Scott said he remembers some of those photos hanging inside Leahy’s office in the Capitol.He’s happy the public gets to experience them now. “I can’t think of anything better than to see all of this laid out here so we could see world history and United States history through your eyes,” Scott said.While Leahy has nearly five decades worth of events and personal interactions he’s photographed, he said he won’t be stopping anytime soon.Leahy said right now, his favorite thing to photograph is his grandchildren.He loves that there’s a story behind every image. “I love photography,” Leahy said. “I’ll always have a camera with me.”The exhibit will be available to the public to see through March 29.Vermont Folklife plans to record a sit-down interview with Leahy to discuss his photos in the near future.They’ll have that video playing at their museum moving forward.

MONTPELIER, Vt. —

On Thursday, the Vermont Supreme Court Gallery in Montpelier opened its doors back to the public for the first time since July’s historic flooding.

Their welcome back event was a photography exhibit with special ties to Vermont’s longest-serving senator.

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Nearly 100 people observed one-of-a-kind photographs, with many that highlighted key historical moments over the last five decades.

The unique aspect was they got to witness those events through former U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy’s eyes, because he was the one that took all the photos.

“To see his perspective on historical events from his very own camera really seemed like a special opportunity,” said Quinn Austin, a UVM senior who attended the exhibit.

Leahy said he’s been a lifelong photographer ever since his mother gave him his first camera when he was 4.

Since then, he hasn’t stopped capturing both timely and timeless moments.

“When I got to the Senate, it’s like someone opened the golden doors,” Leahy said.

Leahy has taken thousands of photos during his 48 years in the Senate.

He said his favorite is a black and white photo he took of a refugee man in El Salvador in 1982.

Leahy said the look on his face still resonates with him.

Hearst Owned

Hearst Owned

“He was basically saying, ‘I could never do anything for you. I can barely do anything for myself. What do you do for people like me?’ I always had that hanging over my desk. I called it my conscious picture,” Leahy said.

Gov. Phil Scott said he remembers some of those photos hanging inside Leahy’s office in the Capitol.

He’s happy the public gets to experience them now.

“I can’t think of anything better than to see all of this laid out here so we could see world history and United States history through your eyes,” Scott said.

While Leahy has nearly five decades worth of events and personal interactions he’s photographed, he said he won’t be stopping anytime soon.

Leahy said right now, his favorite thing to photograph is his grandchildren.

He loves that there’s a story behind every image.

“I love photography,” Leahy said. “I’ll always have a camera with me.”

The exhibit will be available to the public to see through March 29.

Vermont Folklife plans to record a sit-down interview with Leahy to discuss his photos in the near future.

They’ll have that video playing at their museum moving forward.